Virtual reality headsets giving Hull parents-to-be an immersive experience of labour and birth have helped hospital staff win a national award in midwifery.

Hull Women and Children’s Hospital became the first in the world to offer VR headsets to around 400 prospective parents so they can see what it’s like to use a birthing pool in the midwifery-led unit or a birthing ball in the labour ward.

As well as using the headsets to tour the Fatima Allam Birth Centre, women who know they’re having a caesarean section are offered the opportunity to see inside an operating theatre before coming into hospital.

Now, midwives and Hull Institute of Learning and Simulation (HILS) have won “Use of Technology” at a British Journal of Midwifery ceremony in Leeds.

Head of Midwifery Janet Cairns said: “Our use of technology is allowing women to become familiar with their surroundings, know who could be there with them when they go into labour and what they might expect during labour and birth.

“Our midwifery team worked with HILS on the project and this award is fantastic recognition of what can be achieved through innovative thinking, dedication and teamwork.”

The midwifery team worked with HILS, based in the Clinical Skills building at Hull Royal Infirmary, to record 360-degree footage for the VR headsets.

Prospective parents have been road-testing the headsets at the HEY Baby Carousel events, with the next one taking place on Wednesday, February 27, between 6pm and 8pm.

Janet Cairns said: “Wearing the headsets is like being in the room. People are able to see all around them and watch midwives interacting with mothers and partners during labour.

“We’ve got a video tour of the hospital so people can familiarise themselves with their surroundings before they come in but the headsets take it to a different level.

“We’re giving prospective parents as much information in as many different formats as we can so they can make choices that are right for them and their babies.”

HILS Senior Technician Chris Gay said: “The feedback we’ve had from parents so far has been really positive, with more than 90 per cent reporting the experience helped them feel better prepared for their birth of their babies.

“We’re now looking at how we can expand the project to shape the services we provide in the future.”

A woman who suffered four miscarriages in a single year has created special bracelets to help Hull’s Early Pregnancy Unit.

Hull dance school owner Samantha Catanach, 32, was found to have “killer cells” in her womb which caused her to have recurrent miscarriages.

Now, after treatment to suppress her immune system, Samantha and husband Martin, 34, are proud parents of baby son Ted, born on November 1.

And Samantha has raised £1,500 for the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit’s Forget-Me-Not Fund which gives special memory boxes for women suffering miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancies.

Baby Ted

She said: “I became a familiar face because I was there so often and I can’t speak highly enough about the staff and the care I received.

“But I wanted to do something to help other women who have early losses because, no matter how caring the staff were, I felt like I was leaving empty-handed and that I had nothing.”

Samantha, who runs Flex Dance Inc with her best friend Stephanie Keeting and holds classes in Hull and Leeds, lost her first baby in early March 2017 and went on to suffer three further miscarriages, all around the seventh  week of pregnancy.

She started writing a blog Crazy Fertility Queen, reaching out to other women who had been or were going through similar experiences.

“Once felt like bad luck,” she said. “When you’ve had three,  it’s classed as recurrent miscarriage. It was so difficult for us that it kept happening. We never got passed the first scan.

“But the staff in the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit were just so supportive and were really amazing.”

After their fourth miscarriage, Samantha and Martin paid for private tests and discovered Samantha had killer cells in her womb, similar to those produced to fight cancer. Instead of fighting illness, the cells attacked the “foreign body”, ending the pregnancies.

She said: “We all have these cells and they’re what we use to fight cancer and illness. But mine were very aggressive and they were killing my babies.”

Pregnant for the fifth time, Samantha underwent treatment to suppress her immune system and she gave birth to Ted five weeks early.

She said: “Ted is our absolute rainbow baby and we’re so lucky to have him.

“But once I had him, I felt that I wanted to give something back.”

Thanks to the support of women following her blog, Samantha raised £1,500 and purchased 700 special rope bracelets with the poem “Too beautiful for earth”.

The bracelets will be placed in the Forget Me Not boxes, provided through fundraising coordinated by staff nurse Hayley Ellenton who works on the gynaecology ward, and contains a notes journal, a packet of forget-me-not flower seeds, a candle, a pendant, a memorial certificate and information on local and national support groups.

Women can also support the Early Pregnancy Unit by attending Samantha’s hour-long Zumba classes on Thursday nights at Bricknell Primary, starting at 6.45pm. It costs £3 for adults and £1 for under 18s and all proceeds will go to the unit.

A young woman from Bransholme has raised more than £1,100 to support neurosurgical patients in our care.

Jodie Baitson –Horrocks, 25, underwent surgery for Chiari Malformation One at Hull Royal Infirmary (HRI) last year and was cared for by staff on Ward 4.

Chiari Malformation One is a rare condition where the brain presses down into the lower part of the spinal canal. In many cases, the condition is identified in childhood but for Jodie, it was only in her twenties when she started showing symptoms.

Jodie and her family were so impressed with the care she was given by staff at HRI that when she left hospital, she was determined to raise money for the ward as well as raising more awareness of her condition.

Jodie and her family set up a GoFundMe page in October and since then, she has smashed her original £1,000 fundraising target.

Jodie, her mum and grandmother all returned to the ward this week to present staff with a ‘thank you’ cheque for an amazing £1,142.41. More than half of the amount, an amazing £625, was generated by staff from Lincoln-based jewellery retailer, John Greed, who heard Jodie’s story and not only organised a raffle to raise money but also gave Jodie a Pandora charm bracelet of her own for Christmas.

Jodie says:

“The staff have really looked after me and the ward deserves it. It’s important to me that I can give something back to help the staff and other patients on the ward.”

The money Jodie has raised through her GoFundMe page will be used to buy equipment for the ward which is likely to include floor standing fans to help patients stay comfortable in warm weather.

The family of a baby who spent the first 64 days of her life on oxygen are offering a free week’s holiday in Spain to raise funds for a unit looking after Hull’s sickest babies.

Frankie Rolfe weighed just 2lbs when she was born early at 26 weeks and was cared for by staff at Hull’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Now, her parents Linzi and Andy, who live in Sutton Park with Frankie and their three-year-old daughter Eva, are raffling a free week at a villa in Spain to help raise funds for the unit based at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.

Linzi, 32, said: “We wouldn’t have been able to bring Frankie home if it hadn’t been for the amazing human beings that work on NICU.

“I am so very grateful to them for being so good with Frankie, for providing such amazing care and giving us a healthy baby to bring home.”

Frankie Rolfe

Linzi, a nursery nurse at Busy Bees Day Nursery in Beverley, started experiencing contractions when she was just over 25 weeks pregnant and was given medication to try to halt the contractions. She was also given steroid injections to strengthen her baby’s lungs.

She was kept in hospital for a few days before being allowed home but just days later, the contractions started again. This time, her labour couldn’t be stopped and she gave birth to Frankie, who was immediately whisked away to NICU to save her life, placed in a special bag to keep her skin moist.

“It was just an awful experience,” Linzi  said. “I was blaming myself because, even ‘though I hadn’t done anything wrong and didn’t smoke or drink during the pregnancy, I felt like I had let her down.

“But then a midwife explained that, sometimes, the cervix just can’t cope with more than one pregnancy.”

With Linzi and Andy by her side, Frankie was put on a life-saving ventilation in the Red Room and had jaundice and then suspected sepsis twice. She was diagnosed with chronic lung disease when she was 28 days old and was kept on oxygen until she was 64 days old.

Ten days later, when their daughter was 74 days old, Linzi and Andy were finally allowed to bring Frankie home to start life as a family of four.

Linzi said: “I did wonder if Eva would be jealous because me and her dad obviously spent a lot of time at the hospital but she’s been absolutely brilliant. She loves Frankie.

“Although Frankie’s got chronic lung disease, we’ve been told she is likely to grow out of it by the time she’s two.

“She now weighs seven and a half pounds so she’s catching up, slowly but surely.”

The couple decided to fundraise for NICU after hearing how the unit used public donations to create comfortable facilities for parents so they could stay with their babies and for extra pieces of equipment like a special incubator described as “the next best thing to the womb”.

A family fun day will be held at Busy Bees Day Nursery in Beverley on Saturday, March 23, with children’s rides, stalls and a bouncy castle

They are also selling raffle tickets for a week’s holiday at a villa in Spain, with tickets costing £5. They will be on sale at the fun day or people can sent Linzi a message on Facebook with their name and address and pay through the Just Giving page.

Although the couple set a target of £500, they have already raised £850 and now plan to keep going to raise as much as possible for the unit.

Linzi said: “We didn’t expect to raise as much as this so quickly so we’re delighted.

“Staff at the unit were just so good with Frankie and we want to do what we can to say thank you.”

Eight staff at Hull’s birth centre are embarking on a healthy living mission to lose weight to help men struggling with their mental health.

Midwives and midwifery assistants at the Fatima Allam Birth Centre set up the 10-week challenge to lose as much weight as possible during the first 10 weeks of 2019.

The team at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital is appealing to local businesses to help sponsor them £1 for every pound in weight they lose, splitting all money raised between Andy’s Man Club and the birth centre.

Midwife Jo Bennett said: “We spend all day every day supporting women and we thought it would be a good idea to do something for men too.

“There’s been a lot of focus recently around men’s mental health and we want to do our bit to raise awareness.

“We also want to raise money for the birth centre so we can offer an even better service to the families who come to us.”

Jo has signed up for the challenge with fellow midwives Katie Headlam, Jess Tyler, Samantha Haw, Jenna Wallis and Pam Dean. Midwifery assistants Jane Thompson and Caroline Andrews are also taking part.

The team weigh themselves once a week and support each other through their own WhatsApp group. They’ve also set up a Just Giving page and are appealing to the public to support their appeal.

A prize will be given to the woman who loses the biggest percentage of her starting body mass at the end of the 10 weeks.

Hull has been named among the top ten NHS trusts in the country for protecting patients, staff and their families from flu this winter.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust achieved the national target of 75 per cent by mid-November, the fastest it has been reached in the trust’s history.

By January 21, 6,500 staff – including 83 per cent involved in direct patient care – had received the flu jab, one of the best vaccination rates in the country.

Simon Nearney, Director of Workforce and Organisational Development, said: “To make it into the top 10 in the country shows how hard our Occupational Health team, together with ward vaccinators, have worked to drive up our vaccination rates.

“Having so many frontline staff vaccinated against flu means we are offering the best protection to already seriously unwell patients.

“Not only are staff protecting themselves from a very nasty illness, they’re also protecting their loved ones and patients by taking up the offer of a free vaccination.

Last year, staff took 5,575 days off sick through colds and flu. Research shows a 10 per cent increase in staff vaccinations can result in a 10 per cent decrease in sickness absence.

Evidence from NICE also suggests a link between lower staff vaccination rates and increased patient deaths.

The trust’s Occupational Health nurses trained 114 volunteer vaccinators to administer the jab to staff as part of this year’s campaign, which runs until February.

Drop-in clinics were also held in the dining rooms at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital in the mornings and at lunchtime every week in October and November to ensure as many staff could attend as possible.

Vaccinations were also offered to staff at training events, when they attended Occupational Health appointments and at monthly induction days for new starters.

Plans are already under way to encourage even more staff to take up the offer of free vaccinations next winter including volunteer vaccinators based in every ward and department.

A mother with an ultra-rare kidney disease is planning to walk across the Humber Bridge with her two young sons to save lives.

Kylie Canvess, 27, was diagnosed with a genetic kidney disease affecting fewer than 200 people in England and thought to have claimed the life of her grandmother Patricia when she was just 19.

Now undergoing kidney dialysis three times a week at Hull’s Dialysis Unit at Hull Royal Infirmary, Kylie is planning a sponsored walk with sons Jeye, 9, and Connor, 7, and other members of her family and friends to raise funds for Kidney Research UK ahead of this year’s World Kidney Day on March 14.

Kylie said: “It’s thanks to research that I’m here to see my children grow up.

“We’ve come so far because we think my Nanna had the same thing but they couldn’t save  her 50 years ago but they can keep me alive.

“This is my way of giving something back.”

Kylie’s grandmother Patricia Anne Canvess on her wedding day

Kylie, of west Hull, was diagnosed with focal segmental glomeruloscelerosis (FSGS), a type of kidney disease which causes scarring in the kidneys, in October 2017.

She had monthly check-ups with a consultant at Hull Royal Infirmary and was placed on medication but was able to continue looking after Jeye and Connor and hold down a job as a support worker for people with physical and learning difficulties.

However, last September, she experienced searing pain in her abdomen and noticed blood in her urine.

Her housemate took her to Hull’s emergency department and she was admitted while tests were carried out on her kidneys.

After numerous blood transfusions and plasma exchanges as well as two kidney biopsies, doctors discovered Kylie had atypical haemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), a rare disease believed to be genetic where abnormal blood clots form in the small blood vessels in the kidneys.

People with the condition normally require dialysis and drug therapy to keep them alive.

As well as special medication to treat her condition, Kylie also has dialysis three days a week for more than four hours each session and is currently undergoing tests to check her suitability for a kidney transplant.

Kylie said: “People don’t realise how important kidneys are until something like this happens to you or someone close to you.

“I’ve had to give up my job and it’s been difficult for the children. We can’t go on holiday because I need dialysis. They understand I have to do it but it does affect them because they worry about me.”

Kylie has set up a Just Giving page to raise funds for Kidney Research UK when she and her sons will walk across the Humber Bridge and back on Sunday, March 10, with dad Michael, brother Ben and sisters Kirsty, Kelly and Chelsea and  friend Lisa Crane.

She said: “Due to research and people funding research, they’ve found a way to keep my condition under control so I get to see my children grow up.

“I wanted to give something back because we have got to hope that in years to come, a cure might be found for this silent, life-long illness through research.”

Got a tattoo? Been abroad to get your teeth fixed or had breast implants or a nose job overseas?

Between 4,000 and 6,000 people in East Yorkshire are thought to living with hepatitis C, many of them not suspecting they have a virus which could cause liver failure or cancer.

Now, a specialist team based at Castle Hill Hospital is heading into Hull’s housing estates and GP practices this year to screen people for the virus as part of the plan to eradicate hepatitis C by 2025.

From left Martin Lewis, Hattie Deverell and Alison West

Specialist Nurse Martin Lewis said: “Lots of the people we see tell us they don’t know how they’ve caught hepatitis C but it turns out they’ve got tattoos or they’ve been abroad on ‘health care holidays’.

“There is a lot of stigma attached to hepatitis C because of its links to intravenous drug use but you could have caught it if your tattoo was done with a dirty needle or the health facility where you underwent your procedure did not practice the same standards of hygiene as the NHS.

“Some people tell us they only engaged in high-risk behaviour once but that’s all it can take to contract hepatitis C.

“We want people to know there’s nothing to be ashamed of and we are here to help them. Treatment is much better now than it was in the past and the medication we can prescribe gets rid of the virus in 94 per cent of cases.

“But to help people, we need them to come forward for screening.”

What is hepatitis C?

Originally discovered in the 1980s, it was first known as non-hepatitis A and B before it was named hepatitis C in 1989. A screening programme was introduced in 1991 to check all blood donations for hepatitis C.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus and, over time if left untreated, can cause significant liver damage.

There is no vaccine to stop people catching hepatitis C but a course of medication can get rid of it.

How do you contract hepatitis C?

Hepatitis C can only be contracted through blood. You can’t get it from hugging, kissing, toilet seats or from sharing food and drink and utensils.

However, you can catch it if you’ve had tattoos from dirty needles or medical and dental treatment abroad or privately where hygiene standards may not be to NHS standards.

Unprotected sex, high-risk sexual behaviour, having a blood transfusion before 1991, intravenous drug use and sharing needles or sharing hygiene products such as wet razors and tooth brushes are all known risk factors which could lead to the transfer of blood.

How many people are affected by hepatitis C?

Around 71 million people have hepatitis C and it claims the lives of 400,000 people every year when it develops into liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Estimates suggest between 4,000 and 6,000 people in Hull and its surrounding areas have hepatitis C although many will be unaware they have the condition.

What are the symptoms of hepatitis C?

Studies have been unable to provide conclusive evidence on symptoms directly attributed to hepatitis C.

However, they can include tiredness, depression, loss of appetite, mood swings, headaches, flu-like symptoms, bloating, nausea, joint and muscle pain, itchy skin and jaundice.

The problem is people are unlikely to link any of these to a medical condition until symptoms of liver failure start to appear – and that can take 15 to 30 years.

How can it be treated?

In the past, treatment for hepatitis C was difficult. Drugs had many side effects, only worked in around 50 per cent of patients and treatment could take almost a year to complete.

However, new antiviral medication has now been developed and is equally effective for all six types of hepatitis C.

People are given one to three tablets a day, tailored to their specific type of hepatitis C, and treatment lasts between eight to 16 weeks. Unlike before, the new treatment is 96 per cent effective for all six types of hepatitis C and with far fewer side effects.

What’s happening in East Yorkshire to tackle the problem?

Hull is one of 22 “Operational Delivery Networks” set up in 2015 to treat people with the condition and increase screening rates to ensure people with hepatitis C are identified and given treatment to prevent them becoming seriously ill in the future.

The six-strong team working with are two Infectious disease consultants and two heptologists is currently treating around 140 patients a year.

Although based at Castle Hill Hospital, three specialist nurses – Martin Lewis, Alison West and Hattie Deverell – work in the community alongside GP practices, prisons and drug and alcohol services to reach known high-risk groups.

However, they now plan to extend outreach work into housing estates to screen people who may have no idea they have the virus.

Each person is then reviewed by the multi-disciplinary team to ensure they receive the best, most appropriate and most cost-effective treatment available.

How can you find out if you have hepatitis C

It’s easy to find out if you have hepatitis C. Your GP or a screening centre can arrange for a blood test or you can have a finger prick test similar to the tests used to monitor blood sugar levels.  Results are usually known within two weeks.

Where can I go to be screened?

At the moment, you can get screened, make an appointment or undergo treatment at some GPs, Renew in Beverley Road in Hull, William Booth Hostel in Hull.

Inmates at HM Prisons, Hull and Humber, can also be screened for hepatitis C because they are a high-risk group.

Screening is also available through the East Riding Partnership in Hull, Goole and Bridlington and the hospital team are planning to publicise more outreach clinics at GP surgeries and housing estates in the coming weeks.

A mum who almost bled to death after having her baby has thanked a hospital maternity team for saving her life.

Natasha Middleton, 27, started bleeding heavily shortly after daughter Darcie was born at the Fatima Allam Birth Centre in Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.

However, midwife Alex McCann realised Natasha had postpartum haemorrhage, the third leading cause of maternal death in the UK, and summoned an emergency team immediately to rush Natasha into the operating theatre for life-saving surgery.

Today, recovering at her home in Beverley with nine-week-old Darcie, Natasha said: “I had no idea how serious it all was until afterwards and I was in recovery.

“They saved my life and I don’t have the words to thank them enough.”

Rylie, Evie and Noah with baby sister Darcie

Natasha has three other children – Rylie, 8, Evie, 6, and 19-month-old Noah – and her pregnancy with Darcie had been normal. She went into labour on her due date in November but stayed at home, managing her pain.

“The contractions were coming ever 10 to 15 minutes at the start but this was my fourth baby and I’d had my older daughter Evie at home so I just got on with it,” she said.

Contractions started coming more quickly but she took paracetamol and took the children to her mother Alison’s for Sunday dinner when the contractions were coming every two to three minutes before heading to Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.

By the time she got to hospital with her mum, Natasha was already eight centimetres dilated and she gave birth to Darcie in the birthing pool just 90 minutes later.

“She was born by water birth 10 minutes after I got in the pool and everything was fine when I had her,” Natasha said. “Alex, the midwife, and midwifery assistant Jane Thompson had been absolutely amazing and they passed Darcie to my mum while I got out of the pool.

“I remember lying on the bed to deliver the placenta and I started bleeding. Alex couldn’t stop the bleeding so she told me not to panic but got my mum to press the emergency buzzer and it felt like seconds before all these people arrived in the room.”

Natasha didn’t realise how critically ill she was at the time and had to be persuaded to have surgery.

Natasha with Darcie just after she was born in the pool

“I was out of it and, although I was in agony, I kept saying I didn’t want to have surgery because I was frightened it would hurt and I didn’t realise a spinal injection meant I wouldn’t have felt a thing,” she said. “But they were so patient with me, even though they must have felt so frustrated.

“Eventually, they asked if I wanted to see my children again and be there to bring up my new baby. That’s when I agreed.”

Natasha had a balloon catheter inserted to control the bleeding and had two blood transfusions after losing 2.2 litres of blood.

“Alex had been with me throughout my labour and stayed with me all the time in the theatre,” said Natasha. “She only left me hours later to have a short break and to do her paperwork.

“And Jane also came in to see me while I was in recovery, just to make sure I was ok.

“I really can’t thank them enough for all she did for me.”

As well as Alex and Jane, Natasha wanted to thank Dr Uma Rajesh, Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Anaesthetist Dr James King for saving her life.

Natasha said: “Darcie was fine and remained fine despite everything that was happening to me. I was just a mess.

“I just want to say how amazing everyone was in the theatre and to thank them for all they did for me.

“I feel so lucky because I got to hospital when I did. I’ve been told if I’d had Darcie at home like I did with my other daughter, it could have been a different story.

“I just want to say a massive, massive thank you to everyone from the midwife, midwifery assistant, the consultants, the surgeons and the anaesthetist who all ran to help me.”